The first in a series of two podcasts taken from Lori's Summer 2008 Workshop for the Heart of the Matter's Online Conference.

From Lori:

If you want all the details and statistics of my “professional” training, experience and background, you can find all of that below. However, if you are anxious to hear my heart, then this is the place to start.

In Ruth Beechick’s book, Heart and Mind,she explains the many different ways the word “heart” is used throughout Scripture. The word heart can refer to the mind, the seat of affections, our passions, our desires, our beliefs…and the list goes on. God puts a high priority on our heart. He tells us to “guard it.” He tells us that out of the “abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” AND, He tells us to instruct the heart of our children. Given the emphasis that God gives the heart throughout Scripture, we need to pay attention to what He considers to be important. He is telling us to instruct the WHOLE child…not just their mind…not just their actions….but the WHOLE child.

Beginning With the End in Mind

When we begin our lives, begin our marriages, or begin raising our children, we need to have a clear picture of what God desires as an end result in each of those areas. Knowing this will affect our choices and decisions on a most basic level. In raising four boys, John and I searched God’s word to determine what we felt like HE wanted us to focus on as we raised our sons. We wanted to “begin with the end in mind.” The more we searched the more narrow our focus became. It wasn’t to be about their achievements, their grades, the college they were accepted into or any of the myriad of things that we are tempted to focus on as parents. Instructing the “heart” was to be our priority. Yes, I have lots of credentials, training and experience in arts and education and I love doing these things with excellence in order to reflect our Savior. But, to me, arts and academics are vehicles that should be used not worshiped. Human knowledge and wisdom shouldn’t be elevated above what God says is important. They should simply be vehicles to reach the hearts of our children and students. That’s what we have endeavored to be about in our family and that’s what we strive to be about through every aspect of our ministry through Artios.

For now, I invite you to subscribe to this blog to find encouragement, inspiration and just good ‘ole transparency along your homeschool journey. I certainly don’t have all the answers and I won’t pretend that I do. I have just been on the path for awhile now. I’ve made big mistakes and I’ve had great victories along the way. I invite you to share your journey with me.